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Plot thickens as Eagles season winds down

IT WAS GLOOMY in the Eagles' locker room yesterday, and not only because it was late in the afternoon when the media were allowed in and the sun was already low in the sky. With preseason expectations of making the playoffs, this 4-7 team has fallen short in a way that an Eagles team has not fallen short in probably 3 decades. The general mood is stunned.

"We're all focused on what we need to do," DeSean Jackson said at yesterday's Eagles practice. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)
"We're all focused on what we need to do," DeSean Jackson said at yesterday's Eagles practice. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)Read more

IT WAS GLOOMY in the Eagles' locker room yesterday, and not only because it was late in the afternoon when the media were allowed in and the sun was already low in the sky. With preseason expectations of making the playoffs, this 4-7 team has fallen short in a way that an Eagles team has not fallen short in probably 3 decades. The general mood is stunned.

The Eagles just endured an afternoon in which the fans twice chanted for coach Andy Reid to be fired, and assistant coaches Marty Mornhinweg and Jim Washburn got into an argument on the sideline, and wide receiver DeSean Jackson got benched after dropping two touchdown passes - oh, and they all got their backsides handed to them by the New England Patriots, 38-20.

Other than that, it was a beautiful evening. And now they have a 6-hour flight tomorrow to take them to a Thursday-night game in Seattle - which is the working definition of cruel-and-unusual in the NFL, and which either will crush this fragile team or give it something to hang on to amid the disappointment.

"It's a new week," Jackson said.

And what do you do?

"Just come to work," Jackson said.

It was hard to sense any emotion in his voice. On the day after, Jackson said he has neither sought nor desires an explanation for his fourth-quarter benching in Sunday's humbling loss to the Patriots.

And he says he still wants to play for this team.

"Yes, sir," he said. "That's where I'm at. That's what I love to do, is play football . . . I hope it works out."

Around him, the room was hushed. This kind of losing just doesn't happen around here (except in 2005, when Terrell Owens' situps and Donovan McNabb's sports hernia combined to alter the landscape in a significant way). Eagles team don't lay eggs like this. They just don't. As a result, all of the conversations are just a little bit more hushed and all of the questions are asked with a little bit more care. And when somebody like tight end Brent Celek says, "I want to be part of something great," the pain in his voice is just that much more obvious.

So what you do, mostly, is walk around and take people's temperatures. Quarterback Michael Vick, who has missed the last two games with broken ribs, says he feels better but would not offer even the whiff of a hint about his possible availability on Thursday night. That was the only real news of the day, and it was no news. But that is how things go around here sometimes.

Going from locker to locker, the attempt was made to show that the players were still engaged, despite the disappointment. And when defensive end Darryl Tapp, one of the young guys, insisted, "Nobody's giving up on this thing," you could tell he believed what he was saying.

Some people would argue, well, what's the difference? But these games are important if you are trying to figure out what went wrong and who is worth building around in 2012. Everybody fixates on the coach, and that is entirely understandable, but there is a roster full of players here, and it has failed terribly, and not necessarily because of the talent level.

You can argue bad coaching vs. bad mix of players vs. flawed fantasy football philosophy, and it will be a fine discussion. But however that argument ends, somebody must decide what to do about this particular group of players - and these last five games, it would seem, should have a significant impact on that decision.

So, amid the gloom in that locker room, people's true personalities are about to reveal themselves.

"We're all focused on what we need to do," DeSean Jackson said. "We've got five games left. We'll go out there every week and give our best effort, regardless of our record, and just go out there and play hard. So that's our mindset."

It had better be, for all of them. Because this is where it really gets interesting.